The ability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), a serious respiratory infection, to form snake-like cords was first noted nearly 80 years ago. In a study published October 20 in the journal Cell, investigators report the biophysical mechanisms by which these cords form and demonstrate how several generations of dividing bacteria hang together to create these structures that enable resistance to antibiotics. “Our work clearly showed that cord formation is important for infection and why this highly ordered architecture might be important for pathogenesis,” says senior author Vivek Thacker (@DrVivekThacker), who ...

There’s no doubt that exercise does a body good, including strengthening and toning our muscles. But how exactly does exercise make this happen? As we run and lift and stretch, our muscles experience chemical signals from surrounding cells, as well as mechanical forces from jostling against tissues. Some physiologists wonder: Is it the body’s natural chemical stimulants or the physical forces of repeated motion — or some mix of the two — that ultimately drive our muscles to grow? The answer could be the key to identifying therapies to help people recover from muscle ...

About The Study: In this study of 5,435 adolescents and young adults with cancer, those reporting moderate or severe symptoms through a screening program were more likely to subsequently receive specialty palliative care. These findings suggest that specialty palliative care was associated with a subsequent decrease in pain severity but did not affect other symptoms. New interventions targeting other symptoms during treatment and particularly at the end of life are needed.  Authors: Sumit Gupta, M.D., Ph.D., of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: ...

About The Study: In this randomized clinical trial of 134 individuals who underwent a cesarean delivery, use of a high-frequency electrical stimulation device as part of a multimodal analgesia protocol decreased opioid use in the immediate postoperative period and opioids prescribed at discharge. These findings suggest that the use of this device may be a helpful adjunct to decrease opioid use without compromising pain control after cesarean delivery.  Authors: Jennifer L. Grasch, M.D., of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, is the corresponding author.  To ...

Being suspended from school or sent to the office is tied to a big drop in grade point average (GPA), especially for Black and Latinx children, according to UC San Francisco researchers.  Their study, publishing Oct. 20, 2023, in JAMA Network Open, analyzed the school records of 16,849 students in grades 6 through 10 in a large urban school district in California from 2014 to 2017. Black students who had an “exclusionary school discipline” (ESD) event – being removed from a classroom or suspended ...

Researchers are studying the dramatic physical transformation that some insects undergo to give birth to live young. This includes suppressing their immune systems to accommodate babies, which is something some insects and people have in common. Understanding how these systems work can help improve treatments for fibromyalgia and other immune disorders. Biologists at the University of Cincinnati were part of an international team examining the complex structural and physiological changes that take place in Hawaii’s beetle-mimic cockroaches, which give birth to live young. “It’s ...

The 'wonder material' graphene is well-known for its high electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, and flexibility. Stacking two layers of graphene with atomic layer thickness produces bilayer graphene, which possesses excellent electrical, mechanical, and optical properties. As such, bilayer graphene has attracted significant attention and is being utilized in a host of next-generation devices, including quantum computers. But complicating their application in quantum computing comes in the form of gaining accurate measurements of the quantum bit states. Most research has primarily used low-frequency electronics to overcome this. However, ...

20 October 2023, Brussels, Belgium – At this critical junction for EU chemicals legislation, the independent scientific voice took centre stage at the 5th Annual Forum on Endocrine Disruptors. Together with an impressive number of concerned stakeholders, they called for the immediate adoption implementation of better EU legislation. While a restriction on per-and polyfluoroalkaline substances (PFAS) is ongoing, it risks being watered down by the massive volume of industry submissions to the public consultation. In addition, the European Commission’s legislative ...

A team from the University of Cordoba has designed a model, based on fuzzy logic, that predicts the performance of online education students, dividing them into 4 categories and helping professors give more personalized assistance to each student, tailored to their situations Distance education has democratized access to knowledge, overcoming problems of time and space. The flexibility and accessibility of this type of system has increased the number of people educated via online platforms. However, due to its large ...

Often introduced unintentionally by human activities, invasive alien species can outcompete and overwhelm native flora and fauna, driving species to the brink of extinction and disrupting the balance of ecosystems. Understanding why exactly they establish in new locations and how they got there in the first place is crucial if we are to mitigate their destructive effects. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough research on this, and the answers might not always be straightforward. A research team from AgResearch and Better Border Biosecurity (B3) investigated the biological risk posed by ...

A huge step forward in the evolution of perovskite solar cells recorded by researchers at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) will have significant implications for renewable energy development. The CityU innovation paves the way for commercialising perovskite solar cells, bringing us closer to an energy-efficient future powered by sustainable sources.  “The implications of this research are far-reaching, and its potential applications could revolutionise the solar energy industry,” said Professor Zhu Zonglong of the Department of Chemistry at CityU, who collaborated ...

They published their work on Oct. 18 in Energy Material Advances.   "Constructing a good interface between cathode and electrolyte is crucial for the development of all-solid-state battery," said Chuang Yu, a professor at the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Electromagnetic Technology at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. "Currently, strategies such as coating protect layer on cathode surface and isolating cathode/sulfide electrolyte by halide electrolyte layer are typical solutions to solve the problems at the interface between the cathode and the sulfide electrolytes, but it is not yet clear who is more suitable for sulfide-based all-solid-state ...

Bio-machine hybrid robots (BHRs) represent a new generation of micro-aerial vehicles that be controlled by building an interface between biological and artificial systems. In contrast to conventional bionic robots, they are free of complex mechanical structures, and due to the direct adoption of the animal body, they have superior moving characteristics and lower energy demand. Thus, the BHRs can be applied in many important scenarios, such as urban and wilderness rescue operations, environmental monitoring and hazardous area surveys. To accomplish long mission endurance, the energy supply ...

Johns Hopkins researchers looking to develop a long-acting, injectable malaria preventive using atovaquone have shown in a new study that resistance may not be the challenge scientists thought it was, particularly when using atovaquone as a malaria preventive. Malaria parasites in infected patients being treated with atovaquone tend to develop a resistance to the drug. Because of this, atovaquone by itself is not used as a malaria treatment nor has not been seen as a strong candidate for use as a preventive.  The study, led by a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute and the Johns ...

New findings from researchers at UCLA Health suggest that measuring changes in how pupils react to light could help predict recovery from depression and personalize transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatment of major depressive disorder. TMS is a safe, non-invasive therapy that uses magnetic fields to stimulate parts of the brain involved in mood regulation. While TMS is proven effective, not all patients respond equally well to the therapy. The ability to predict who will benefit most could allow doctors to better customize ...

Women with diets during middle age designed to lower blood pressure were about 17 percent less likely to report memory loss and other signs of cognitive decline decades later, a new study finds. Led by researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the new findings suggest that a mid-life lifestyle modification – adoption of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH diet – may improve cognitive function later in life for women, who make up more than two-thirds of those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, the most prevalent form of dementia. The findings, published online today in ...

The  winners of the Society’s prestigious annual Awards for 2024 have all contributed to improving knowledge and expertise in endocrinology and have helped drive innovation and progression across the field. Each of these deserving winners will be presenting a plenary lecture at ESE’s annual Congress, the European Congress of Endocrinology (ECE) 2024, which will be held in Stockholm, Sweden from 11-14 May 2024. The 2024 Geoffrey Harris Award is being presented to Jens C. Brüning (Germany). This Award recognises outstanding researchers in the field of neuroendocrinology. Jens Brüning is the Director of the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research ...

The more diverse species in your gut, the better it is for your health. Now an international team led by the Hudson Institute of Medical Research has found a way to determine which species are important and how they interact to create a healthy microbiome. Understanding these relationships opens the door to a new world of medical opportunities for conditions from Inflammatory Bowel Disease to infections, autoimmune diseases and cancers. Associate Professor Samuel Forster and his team at Hudson Institute of Medical Research, working with collaborators from the Institute for Systems Biology in ...

Felix Beuschlein is Professor of Internal Medicine/Endocrinology and Director of the Clinic for Endocrinology, Diabetology and Clinical Nutrition at the University Clinic Zurich in Switzerland. He received his medical degree from School of Medicine at the University of Würzburg and completed his medical training in Freiburg, both in Germany. For postdoctoral studies he joined the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Following a professorship for Endocrine Research at the University of Munich, he was elected for a chair position at the University of Zurich in 2017.   The Transatlantic ...

   A new partnership between Edith Cowan University (ECU), observation data company QL Space, and University of South Wales (UK) is looking to the stars, literally, to create more secure and efficient communication.     The collaboration will focus on ‘free space optics’, which uses light all around we can’t see to communicate, by sending data via light particles, or photons.      ECU School of Science Senior Lecturer Dr Shihao Yan said this brought with it many benefits compared to using radio frequencies to send information.     “When ...

AAP media contacts:           Lisa Black, 630-626-6084, lblack@aap.org                                                       Tom McPheron, 630-626-6315, tmcpheron@aap.org                                                          ...

AAP media contacts:           Lisa Black, 630-626-6084, lblack@aap.org Tom McPheron, 630-626-6315, tmcpheron@aap.org Adam Alexander, 630-626-6765, aalexander@aap.org Washington, D.C.— Teenagers and young adults are fairly open to the idea of talking with their doctors and nurses about their sexual orientation and gender identity and are okay being asked through various methods, whether on paper, electronically, or in person, according to research presented during the 2023 AAP National Conference ...

AAP media contacts:         Lisa Black, 630-626-6084, lblack@aap.org  Tom McPheron, 630-626-6315, tmcpheron@aap.org   Adam Alexander, 630-626-6765, aalexander@aap.org    Washington, D.C.— A popular live streaming platform, Twitch, poses risks to minors who can interact with adult strangers and donate money to streamers without the supervision of a parent or guardian, according to research presented during the 2023 AAP National Conference & Exhibition at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.   The abstract, “Predator Paradise: Analyzing the Ease ...

AAP media contacts: Lisa Black, 630-626-6084, lblack@aap.org  Tom McPheron, 630-626-6315, tmcpheron@aap.org                                  Adam Alexander, 630-626-6765, aalexander@aap.org     Washington, D.C.—A father’s depression during his child’s first year of life has been associated with difficulties in parenting and child behavior, but new research finds that it also doubles the odds of a child having three or more adverse childhood experiences ...

For release: 12:01 a.m. ET Friday, Oct. 20, 2023  AAP media contacts: Lisa Black, 630-626-6084, lblack@aap.org  Tom McPheron, 630-626-6315, tmcpheron@aap.org                                  Adam Alexander, 630-626-6765, aalexander@aap.org    WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Delta-8 is a substance that produces a high akin to THC. While THC is a federally banned substance, delta-8 is technically a different chemical and is therefore not federally banned. New research suggests the growing popularity of ...